Engaged Reading Time - Issue #66

Like many people, I’ve been hit badly by the changes in life through the response to the current crisis.

While my family and I all have our health, thankfully, that doesn’t mean we have escaped consequences of the lockdown.

I’ve been hit financially, with many of my outstanding courses and workshops cancelled or indefinitely postponed. I’ve been hit in available time, as I’m homeschooling children for half a day, every weekday. And I’ve been hit emotionally. I’ve been in a state of varying levels of anxiety for the last couple of weeks, and I’m slowly trying to escape it.

In the last 24 hours, I’ve realised that I need to take time away from the wall-to-wall coverage of everything that’s happening. I’m making efforts to read things that are different, interesting, challenging — or inspiring. But none of them will be about the “c” word.

I’m going to share three a day right here, on this newsletter. There will be life after this crisis. Let’s prepare our brains for it.

One thing I do, from time to time, is buy big packs of old negatives or films on eBay, and scan them. I have an instinctive archivist’s mentality, and I’m always fascinated to see what comes out of my scanner.

This article explores people who go one step further — they hunt for exposed but undeveloped old films, and then have them developed.

It has just the faintest hint of gambling about it - will this film turn up gold?

Rewilding is one of those subjects that is hugely important, but ill-understood. It has huge potential in addressing some of the threats we face. If, for example, we can rewild river catchments and floodplains, we can ease some of the severity of flooding across Britain.